The 2024 NFL Draft is already in the rearview, leaving us to parse through which players went where and what that might mean for those respective prospects and franchises.
While some picks feel very clear in terms of what they mean and how they may go, there are 10 picks in particular that really piqued our interest over the last week when looking back on them.
We’ve identified who those 10 players are and talked about why there is so much intrigue surrounding where they were picked and what kinds of situations they’ll walk into as a rookie.
Some of these guys are highly drafted quarterbacks, while others are fascinating examples of once-lauded prospects who ultimately got drafted much, much later than initially projected.
No. 3: QB Drake Maye to the New England Patriots
Maye is about to become one of the most scrutinized professional athletes in American sports. Boston sports fans demand excellence, and they will not settle for anything than they’re accustomed to seeing at Gillette Stadium. Maye has real potential to be a franchise quarterback for New England, but like quarterback Mac Jones, he’ll be playing in the colossal shadow of Tom Brady. This will all play out in the first year after Bill Belichick’s departure, too.
We’re not sure if Maye will start or not this fall, as this New England team isn’t seemingly close to meaningful contention. However, New England fans will want to see Maye as soon as possible. Fair or not, the North Carolina product has the unbelievably lofty responsibility to become Brady’s heir apparent and to bring back Super Bowls to a fan base who grew accustomed to them. As much as is riding on Caleb Williams to finally give the Chicago Bears a franchise quarterback, Maye will be expected to give the Patriots a new Brady. No pressure, right?
No. 8: QB Michael Penix Jr. to the Atlanta Falcons
You can go blue in the face trying to defend or deride the Falcons for the bombshell of taking Penix after giving quarterback Kirk Cousins a multi-year contract in the same offseason. The risks and rewards are immense, and the disorientation of the initial selection will give way to the very fair pros and cons of this incredibly unorthodox approach to building the quarterback room. No matter how this goes, this is going to be absolutely fascinating to watch.
The immediate and long-term future of the Falcons will sink or swim with this plan, and the team will have to lean on celebrated culture-builder Raheem Morris to manage such a delicate dance of having Penix and Cousins in the same room for a couple of seasons. The Falcons will also have to hope and pray their evaluation of Penix is spot-on. Either way, the only guarantee for Atlanta is that the next few years of Falcons football will in no way, shape or form be boring… which is a start.
No. 28: WR Xavier Worthy to the Kansas City Chiefs
Worthy, who posted the fastest 40 time in NFL combine history, will be joining the best quarterback in the NFL in Patrick Mahomes. That could be genuinely devastating for the rest of the league if Mahomes finally gets his next Tyreek Hill. Especially with wide receiver Rashee Rice likely being suspended for part of the 2024 season, Worthy is going to play a huge role in helping Kansas City push for a three-peat. The Chiefs were plagued with receiver issues last season and still won a Super Bowl. Worthy joining Mahomes comes to the chagrin of 31 other teams.
No. 33: WR Keon Coleman to the Buffalo Bills
Outside of maybe the New York Jets, the Buffalo Bills may have the most pressure of any organization in the NFL right now to put meaningful results on the field. After mounting a Buffalo revival, coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane are on the hot seat to finally give the Bills the separation they need to maximize quarterback Josh Allen’s prime. They’ll have to do so with a hand tied behind their backs after a massive roster purge for salary constraints (including the trade of elite wide receiver Stefon Diggs). That’s where Coleman comes in.
He’s probably the best receiver on the Bills roster right now, and he’s going to be a crucial factor into helping this Bills offense be as good as it can be with Allen under center. That’s a lot to put on a second-round receiver, but it’s just what the Bills have to do. How well he plays in his first season will impact much more than his long-term outlook. It will play a part in who is coaching and drafting for the Bills in 2025 and beyond.
No. 50: CB Mike Sainristil to the Washington Commanders
One of the most underrated storylines out of this draft came out of former Alabama coach Nick Saban endorsing Sainristil as perhaps the best player in the 2024 NFL Draft. Hear for yourself.
That alone perks our interests quite a bit, as first-year Commanders general manager Adam Peters pulled off the steal of the draft, at least to Saban. Peters has the incredible responsibility of resurrecting a Washington franchise that has been dead to rights for years, and he’s already staked a huge claim in that pursuit by taking quarterback Jayden Daniels with the second-overall pick.
He’s also taken Saban’s favorite player in this year’s draft. Time will tell if we’re looking back on Sainristil as one of those players we’re shocked went this low.
No. 63: OT Kingsley Suamataia to the Kansas City Chiefs
Unless the team brings back tackle Donovan Smith or signs a free agent like David Bakhtiari at some point this summer, the Chiefs might be making the biggest risk out of any team in the NFL this offseason in what they’re doing at left tackle. Right now, Suamataia, the team’s second-round pick, has the inside track to protect Mahomes’ blind side during the team’s three-peat attempt.
While Mahomes might be good enough to make an average left tackle look great, Suamataia is still raw and may have to learn quickly on the field unless offensive tackles Wanya Morris and Lucas Niang have their say in the matter. How Suamataia develops this summer may determine if the Chiefs just got another long-term starter on the offensive line without spending a first-round pick or if Kansas City scrambles to find a better option before the season than what they have in-house.
No. 120: RB Jaylen Wright to the Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins taking Wright, a blazing-fast running back out of Tennessee, is just so fascinating purely from a schematic standpoint. It may also signal that Miami coach Matt McDaniel realizes the importance of his run game being able to carry the load long-term as the financial futures of wide receivers like Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle are up in the air and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s health will always be in focus with his troubling history of concussions.
While electrifying offenses with speed through the passing game is thought to be the bread-and-butter of the McDaniel system, the team will put Wright, De’Von Achane and Raheem Mostert in the position to balance out that explosiveness in the ground game (…if not eclipse it in some weeks). Honestly, investing this much speed in the running back room might be a stroke of genius for a Miami team that wants to win now and does not have definitive answers for its passing attack long-term, as continually intimidating as it looks in the interim.
No. 150: QB Spencer Rattler to the New Orleans Saints
There was a time that Rattler was viewed as one of the next first-round quarterbacks, but his draft stock ultimately plummeted to the fifth round. He feels like the classic boom-or-bust quarterback, and him going to a Saints team that is locked into quarterback Derek Carr for the next two seasons intrigues, especially when you consider the archrival Falcons are in the same spot (although, with much, much, much, much more riding on Penix to be the heir apparent than Rattler for New Orleans).
How Rattler develops with the Saints (and if the coaching staff and general manager who brought him in will even be in New Orleans in two years) will be fascinating to watch play out. It’s possible he’s the next starting quarterback to get drafted far lower than deserved, and it’s also possible he’s the next could’ve-been prospect that stans as a cautionary tale to crowning future NFL first-rounders too early in their college careers and setting them up for unreal expectations.
No. 225: WR Brenden Rice to the Los Angeles Chargers
The Chargers desperately need playmakers in their wide receiver room to help quarterback Justin Fields, and only drafting wideout Ladd McConkey in the second-round feels like a dicey proposition to put it mildly. However, taking the son of Jerry Rice in the seventh round when he was expected to go much higher than this might bail Los Angeles out in a big way.
We’re still very unsure why Rice fell this far, as he was expected to go anywhere from the third to the fifth round. Just based on his family history alone and his projected draft range, this feels like it could be a huge steal for a Chargers team that is going to have to hit on a player like Rice to justify its approach to wide receiver in Jim Harbaugh’s first year in the City of Angels.
No. 225: CB Kalen King to the Green Bay Packers
King went from possibly being a first-round cornerback to almost being Mr. Irrelevant, a staggering fall for the once-coveted Penn State cornerback. He goes to a Green Bay Packers team that needs secondary help and just declined the fifth-year option on former first-round pick Eric Stokes.
Like with Rattler, it’s always fascinating to see how once-celebrated prospects turn out after tumbling substantially in the draft process, and King is going into a situation where he can prove the draft fall wrong by earning a roster spot and pushing for playing time. Maybe the fall was justified for what King may ultimately become, but we’ll be following his career all the same.
